#137649  by TI4-1009
 
Hunter almost NEVER explains his lyrics. He says that by telling the listener what he was talking about it infringes on the listener's own experience of the song (and I agree with him). I found this link on Dead.net (it actually goes back to the Annotated Lyrics), a guy had written a scholarly essay about Dead lyrics and in it used the word "meaningless". Hunter took exception and replied back with this, using Franklin's as an example:

Spoiler alert!

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/fauthrep.html
 #137655  by tcsned
 
That's really cool - some of that I had thought of some was new to me.
 #137665  by tatittle
 
Thanks for the interesting post/link. Now I am almost certain that no matter how well read I am, and how diverse and authentic my life expriences...I will never be able to write good song lyrics :oops:
 #137686  by jimmyschwinn
 
WOW, great read. Thank's.
And I thought I expanded my mind? Obviously not enough. Where did I put that vile of liquid? :lol:
 #137688  by tcsned
 
tatittle wrote:Thanks for the interesting post/link. Now I am almost certain that no matter how well read I am, and how diverse and authentic my life expriences...I will never be able to write good song lyrics :oops:
Don't get down on yourself, Hunter is a master lyricist. There are plenty of great songs out there written by mere mortals at the task. Hunter is very well read and has excellent metacognition about his craft. Plus, he gave a nice, but friendly smack down to the author of that critique.
 #137696  by mgbills
 
Rare indeed! Maybe most of us came for the scene. But we stayed because of what we found!

"The further you go in, the bigger it gets!" ...John Crowley

Peace to All.
M
:smile: :smile: :smile:
 #137705  by Rusty the Scoob
 
Wow! "Call my lyrics meaningless eh?" :lol:

Really interesting look into Hunter's thought processess. I understand and agree with his decision to keep his intent and literary references private, but that is a really fascinating peek through the looking glass into his mind.